


Transformers: Echo In The Mirror

by tepidJudgement



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, give! ratchet! a! companion!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 01:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11635989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tepidJudgement/pseuds/tepidJudgement
Summary: An accident at a hospital causes the Autobots to have to take in yet another human companion. An older woman named Ria Rose. Though her initial impression of them was anything but pleasant, the Autobots quickly find out she's a lot more than she appears.





	1. In the Medicine cabinet

It was just a normal day at the hospital. That's what it was supposed to be. She's seen the reports, handled those who were injured and harmed. But they never made sense. They never add up. She wasn't one to question authority but for once she wanted to know just what the hell was going on that caused all these people to wind up in the emergency room with god-knows-what kind of wounds. She was called nurse Osiria Von Rose, or Ria Rose for short. She helped out in the emergency room and generally wherever she could. She was the top nurse of her division. Her fellow nurse, June Darby, have also recently been showing up less and less, having to cover for her shift. She was going to get to the bottom of this, no doubt there was some kind of correlation between those who ended up in emergency care and June Darby being out 'sick' as she would call it.

She had the day off, a rarity but it happened. The diligent and headstrong nurse would seek to find the source of these 'anomalies' as she dubbed them. Osiria Von Rose was in her early twenties, a quiet woman with quite average hobbies and interests. She loved to read about history and loved Victorian style paintings and decor. She wasn't a social top, often avoiding interaction at all unless it was with a patient. But despite her cold exterior some have said that she was quite warm with the recovering patients and would even shed tears to mourn those who could not recover. But over all, they could vouch that Osiria Von Rose was damn good at her job.

No one's ever seen Ria drive a car, or ride a bike even. Many people seemed to question whether she even had a driver's license. But every time she's been asked for it she could provide it without question. Perhaps she just preferred to walk is all. She always tended to wear the same outfit everyday as well. A long blue tinted-white coat with six buttons on the breast, a salmon pink shirt, white tights, and a pair of dark blue kitten heels. Hazel eyes followed as wind rushed through her brunette hair which ended in a bun as a white car sped by. No doubt June Darby's, she could recognize it anywhere. She picked up her pace, following after her on the sidewalk but also keeping her distance. She remembered the other day she watched as June hastily scribbled her name out on the white board for the third time this week. Just where was this woman going?

Ria was quite the athlete, she neither sweaty nor tired in her pursuit of the white vehicle. However her tracking didn't last long as she quietly slipped into what seemed to be an abandoned missile silo. Just why was June going here...? She kept to the walls as she tip toed around. Peering her head from a corner, she was shocked at what she saw.

Five large beings stood before June and what seemed to be her son Jack and two other kids. They... They looked like robots. Robots with red sigils on their chests. Ria gasped allowed, stepping out into the open and interrupting any conversations that were going.

" _You...!_ "

Everyone froze, staring at this new face. The kids seemed more shock than the robots themselves. Silence loomed over them like a thick blanket trying to choke them out. However who cut through this silence was June Darby herself.

"R-Ria! What are you- How did you-" She seemed just as frazzled as them. "...Nurse Darby do you know this woman?" Ratchet asked slowly, scanning the brunette who clearly looked upset with them for no clear reason.

"I- Yes I do. This is Ria Rose, she's... A nurse at the hospital I work at." The mother spoke sheepishly, glancing between the Autobots and Ria.

"Now's not the time to explain  _how_ I got here. However you Ms. Darby need to start explaining  _why_ those things are here and I can probably guess, without a doubt, they are responsible for the amount of casualties  _found_ in the emergency room!" Ria spat, narrowing her eyes as she stomped right up to June. The woman quietly cooled the other down as she tried to create distance between them. "W-Well now Ria, we can discuss this like rational adults..."

Pulling her aside, the Autobots then turned their attention to Jack. "What? Don't look at me. It's not like my mom tells me about her work friends at all."

Returning to the crowd, Ria stood quietly alongside Jack's mother. "Everyone, this is my co-worker Osiria Von Rose. Or... Ria Rose, as she likes to be called." Ria gave a brief nod as she stepped forward. "Yes... Now then, June has explained that you haven't necessarily harmed the humans in which are in my care, but these so called...  _'Decepticons'_ have." The only one who seemed to be upset by this turn of events seemed to be Ratchet. "No no no! We can't afford to be housing and protecting yet  _another_ human Optimus!" Turning attention to his friend, the taller bot knelt down in front of Ria, who faced him head on with a slight narrow of her eyes. "I am... Aware, that the Decepticons have been harming your people as of late and we have been working hard to try and avoid any catastrophes. However you have just walked into a matter bigger than you can even fathom. We Autobots cannot afford to have you walking around unattended in fear that the Decepticons will now target you.

...He's got to be kidding.

"Listen, robot. Sir. I have no idea what's going on here aside from the fact that you robots have been tearing apart people and I have to clean them up. I am  _not_ going to be responsible for the injuries of people nor let myself be injured! No thank you! I have injuries to attend to." Ria swiftly turned on her heels and began making way back out of the tunnel before feeling a slight tug on her shoulder. Looking over to her co-worker she slowly backed up and turned around.

"Ah-ah, no you don't." June smirked as Ria began to grumble with arms crossed.

Optimus looked at the disgruntled human, then glanced over to the equally disgruntled medic bot, working away diligently at his station. Perhaps... This could be a learning session for him, perhaps he could learn human anatomy and medicine from this.

"I apologize Ria Rose. But we cannot afford to have someone who knows of our existence now go around unattended. Seeing as most of my Autobots are already hold the custody and lives of these three here. There's only one bot left who could fill the job.

Quiet eyes slowly turned as Ratchet paused, glancing up. "...Wait wait wait. You're not referring to  _me_ now are you Optimus?" The medic bot scoffed, shaking his head and going back to typing. "That's ridiculous! I have not  _time_ for babysitting a human!" Ria scoffed in return, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Rest assured I'm not a  _child_." They will get along just fine.

* * *

Even against her will Ria has found herself back again at the converted-silo in the spot of the front seat of an ambulance. She supposed it was inconspicuous enough. A regular ol' normal nurse being picked up and driven by a sentient ambulance. Ria sighed as she stepped out rather delicately and watched as the grumpier bot transformed. He said nothing to her, going straight to his work station and leaving her to wonder what she can do.

"...Where are the others?"

"Scouting."

What a curt reply.

Ria hummed as she slowly walked towards the med bay, examining all there was to see. She began reaching for a particularly interesting tool, only to have it snatched away. "Ah! Don't  _touch_ that! This is highly dangerous, especially to humans." Ratchet chided as he placed the instrument far out of her reach. Ria huffed in annoyance as she found a spot on a human sized gurney. "Didn't that Prime say I was supposed to teach you about human anatomy?" The woman grinned, causing the bot to pause for a moment. "Yes, but now is not the time. I have to monitor everyone's spark signals and maintain the ground bridge in case they need to come back." Another nonsensical answer. The woman sighed, laying down on the gurney, her head resting on her palm. This was going to be a seriously long day.

"Not quite the conversation bot are you?" She mumbled, not expecting him to hear her.

"No, I'm not. You don't seem as enthusiastic about it either, even for a human."

"What can I say? Some humans are just built that way." It was dry humor but Ratchet, for a moment, seemed to have taken that into complete consideration.

However that thought couldn't be further pursued as Optimus's voice resounded in the cave. Ratchet made way quickly towards the bridge and Ria watched as the robots, and their human friends, came back mostly intact. "...Do you always let children accompany you?" She raised an eyebrow, watching Miko flail wildly and jack pat Raf's head. "Not... Intentionally." Was all Ratchet answered.

* * *

 

Later that day, after the kids have gone home, Ria was still hanging out in the med-bay, just quietly observing Ratchet as he worked. "It's late human, shouldn't you be getting home." Ratchet finally commented, causing her to snap out of her absent minded state. "I suppose, but I'm not child or teenager, it's not like I have a curfew." She hopped off the gurney and began walking towards the entrance, causing Ratchet to finally lift his eyes. "You know I can just drive you back, bridge you even." Ria raised a hand, waving him off. "It's fine, I'll walk. Also you forgot to decode the left section." She commended before disappearing out of view. Ratchet's eyes flew to it and she was right. But... That wasn't something spectacular, even Raf could of pointed that out. However that did prove one thing to him, Ria Rose has turned out to be highly observant and they should tread carefully around her.

 


	2. Dim the lights and the spark

Another day, another having to hang around bored out of her mind while the bot that was  _supposed_ to keep an eye on her does everything but that. Not that she minded, she was a capable woman who could do things herself. She didn't need any supervision.l If anything, Ratchet was more or less a bodyguard in case a 'Con decided to attack her. The woman yawned once more as she watched Ratchet mumble to himself as he worked quickly. However with every little noise she made, she could see the doctor grow more agitated. A slight smile curled across the nurse's lips as she let out yet another,  _noisy_ yawn. She heard tools clatter as Ratchet straightened up, back rigid and teeth clenched. "Can't you be any more  _quiet_ _?!_ " A snicker resounded from the woman as she sat up. "How about you do something more productive than fiddle away with- with- what are those? Coordinates?" Ratchet scoffed as he turned his head. " _Yes_ coordinates. They are quite important to our cause so if you could  _please_ keep quiet for maybe a nanoclick I could figure out where this leads." Ria rolled her eyes as she hopped up, walking over to the much larger bot. "Alright, let me look at it." Ratchet paused again and sneered. "Oh  _please_. If you were Rafael I might of considered but you are  _not_."

Ria sighed and waited, only to get another heavy sigh from the medic. "Fine. But I don't know what you think you can do. This is highly encrypted..." Ratchet leaned down, letting Ria climb onto his hand so she could reach the keyboard. "...Files that we gained from Decepticon intel and-"

"Decoded and ready for ground bridging."

Ratchet blinked as he narrowed his optics, leaning closer to the screen. "But how did-" Ria shrugged, hopping onto the table. "What can I say? I'm a woman of many talents and nursing isn't just one of them. I was a computer language major." Ratchet stood corrected as Ria found a way down from his desk and resumed her spot back at the gurney. "I'll... Reconsider your help next time I come across a particularly difficult file." A small smirk came to her lips at that.

* * *

Day by day Ria has proven to be useful to the team. Whether it be for tech support alongside Raf or patching up one of the kids because they got skid marks on their elbows and knees. Ria quickly became close to the team as everyone's cool mom. Unlike June who worried too much, Ria seemed quite fine with the kids' adventures, as long as they came back in one piece. Aside from that, she seemed to get along well with the team, despite the fact she seemed to be highly uncomfortable around the others bots except for Ratchet. Her more snarkier nature seemed to come out around him. Perhaps it was competitivity due to being the only other medical professional in the room. Yet nobody really had a clue why she would clam up and avoid the others. Even Optimus. Jack chalked it up to being unused to being around robots still but Bulkhead protested.

"Well for someone who's 'unused to robots', she seemed to get along  _great_ with doc bot." Bulkhead huffed. "Bulkhead's right, there's gotta be something about us that's driving her away." Arcee commented, glancing at Jack for answers. "Oh- uh, I asked mom about her. She said Ria's always been quiet around others. Only ever getting along with patients and other doctors. So maybe it's just the fact Ratchet's a doctor and you guys... Aren't?" Jack shrugged, looking back to Racthet and Ria exchanging snide remarks.

"Though It is strange how chummy she's getting with him, don't you think?" Miko commented, yawning. "If she's such a loner, why is she treating Ratchet like he's an old friend or something?"

"...Perhaps she just really does get along better with doctors" Raf suggested. The other slowly looked back to see an agitated Ratchet flat out ignoring Ria now, with the woman snickering as she watched the doctor's screen. Quite strange indeed.

The rest of the day went normal, two went off scouting, others stayed behind. Today's stay-at-homes were Bulhead, Miko, Bumblebee and Rafael. They ~~spied~~ watched quietly from the couch area at Ria and Ratchet, who hadn't said anything to each other for the last hour or two. "...Who do you think is gonna speak first?" Miko whispered. "Don't know... Hard to tell." Bulkhead replied, narrowing his optics more. Ria began to open her mouth, everyone tensing up in anticipation. False alarm, she yawned. Finally it was Ratchet who spoke first, noticing that his supposed 'human companion' was making that annoying yawning sound again. "You know, I've learned from humans that if you're yawning that much you should probably go take a nap.  _Away_ from here." Ratchet grumbled, causing another sly grin from the woman. "Oh, I'm not tired, yawning is also a symptom of being absolutely  _bored_ doctor Ratchet." Ratchet gawked and turned around, leaning down and narrowing his eyes at her. "And what, pray tell, do you want me to  _do_ about that, nurse Osiria?" The woman scoffed. "Ria, it's Ria. And I don't know, those kids have been going out on field missions, I want to see this whole hulla-baloo myself." She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Well you're out of luck, I'm normally not put on scouting missions, none the less battles unless they truly need it." Ratchet commented, then turned her back to her. She's quickly learned that meant conversation over on Ratchet parts. The woman stayed quiet then on out until Arcee and Optimus returned from scouting, with Jack in tow. The stared at the others who seemed to be bunched up and staring at the other two. Optimus sighed but caused Arcee to snicker. "See Jack, and that's why no one thought to give doc a companion in the first place."

* * *

 

Ratchet paced quietly in the med-bay. It just doesn't make sense. There was no doubt she knew  _something_ considered she spotted a part of the file previously encrypted as well as was able to transcribe coordinates from a Decepticon file. "...What has you so worked up Ratch?" Miko asked, leaning over the railings and looking at the medic. "Where's your new doctor buddy?"

"She's at her hospital working- which is good considering I must speak to Optimus on important matters regarding her." Ratchet huffed. stopped next to Miko. "...What kiiiinda matters?" The younger girl egged, smile wide as can be. "Matters that I can only presume that she's not who she says to be."

...

Optimus sighed heavily as she glanced down, processing all that Ratchet told him. "...You have reason to believe that our new human friend might not be as friendly as you think?" Ratchet nodded. "Precisely. So far we've only encountered one human able to understand Cybertronian files and that is Raf, but not to this degree. She managed to  _decode_ coordinates from a Decepticon file Optimus! None the less notice that another Decepticon file I was handling was still partly encrypted. She also expressed a want to go on a scouting mission. Not a battle for pictures like Miko, but just a mere _scouting mission_ for things like resources and such. This rubs me the wrong way Optimus. I believe we're dealing with a double agent. A _Decepticon human_."

 

 


	3. Reflection

"Ratchet this is ridiculous- why would any human want to work for Megatron- none the less  _why_ would Megatron want to work with a human?" Arcee scoffed, crossing her arms. Ratchet has been somewhat reasonable up to this point but suspecting a human of two timing them? That's just too far. The others seemed to agree in the ridiculousness of Ratchet's accusation, but of course Optimus stepped up to address the situation himself. "I will not shrug off Ratchet's claims, but I do agree it is highly unlikely that a human would want to work for Megatron, willingly. We could be dealing with some form of Decepticon attack, organic or otherwise. Ratchet's reasons are suspicious enough. However at this time we cannot tell what her true intentions are. We must keep a closer eye on her than ever to make sure she doesn't take anything from us and surrender it to the Decepticons."

Everyone avoided contact with the Prime, he always knew what to say in situations such as these. "As for that scouting mission she wanted to partake on, Ratchet, you'll be assisting me on the next scouting mission then. If not for the enjoyment of your companion then to provoke her into accidentally revealing herself where we can neutralize her accordingly."

Raf's expression fell at the notion of 'neutralize'. "You're not thinking of-" Optimus looked down at Raf, features softening ever so slightly. "Let me reword my phrasing, we do not intend to harm Ms. Rose, but moreso detain her for questioning, if she turns out to be a spy for the Decepticons. Our only way to find out is to give her what she wants, no matter how innocent it may seem."

Ria seemed more reserved, than usual. Or well, from what they've seen between conversations of her and Ratchet. She wasn't giddy like Miko or nervous with Rafael. Just, reserved. Unreadable even. She looked over as the ambulance formed right next to her, a door opened and beckoning her to hurry up. "Well? Are you just going to stand there or hop in?" Ria made no response as she stepped in. They watched as Optimus and Ratchet disappeared into the bright green void. "...Well... Let's hope she isn't a traitor and just really enjoys boring things."

When they arrived, they seemed to have been at some sort of mine. One completely different than what they've found previously. "This mine had a strong energon signature coming from it, no doubt either 'Cons are mining it right now or we've just hit the mother load." Ratchet commented, looking over the log one more time. "Tread carefully, who knows what is in these caves." Optimus heeded as the group proceeded into the abandoned stronghold. It seemed quiet. No echo of sound equipment or vehicons communicating with each other. "...Perhaps they're farther down the mine? This seems to good to be-" Ratchet froze, staring at the mounds of blue light illuminating the large cavern. "-True..." Optimus stopped in awe as the two surveyed. Energon for miles. "By Primus we've found it..." Ratchet breathed, looking at Optimus. "We must contact the others we can't-" Optimus shook his head, causing a furrow of Ratchet's eyebrows. "Why not? We can't afford to lose this much energon! It could sustain us for cycles!" Optimus raised a hand. "This is a strong energon signal. The longer we linger the more time the Decepticons have on locking onto this location. We do not have time to waste, we must take as much as we can and leave before we're ambushed." Ratchet groaned, blades replacing his hands as he immediately got to work. At least Optimus had the courtesy of pushing her aside so she didn't get attacked by rubble. 

Ria stood on the sidelines disgruntled, tapping her foot quickly with crossed arms. This isn't how she wanted to go- However... She watched as shards of blue crystal got flung near her. Glancing at the Autobots who seemed more preoccupied with other matters, she rushed out to began collecting these shards and nuggets of crystal. Thank god for deep pockets.

However they weren't able to recover much, because before they were able to haul aft and get out of there, a group of Vehicons crashed in through the ceiling. A fight ensued, with nothing but blades and reserved fire power. "You fools! If you hit any of the energon you'll blow all of us up!" Ratchet yelled, causing a look of distress to cross over Ria's features. Ratchet glanced over to see her still mostly out of the open and about to be squashed by a quite larger than her vehitron. "Ria! Look out!" The medibot yelled as he dove, slicing the 'Con's leg off and scooping up Ria. "This isn't safe, we must evacuate immediately! Optimus!"

"Optimus to base, get us a ground bridge to these coordinates immediately!" Not a second later another cyclone of white, green and blue filled her vision as Ratchet and Optimus retreated with at least some clusters on energon in hand.

* * *

Once back at base, Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead stared in awe at the clusters they did manage to bring back. "Where did you- how did you-"

"No reason to ask, the mines belong to the Decepticons now, we were too late to secure it for ourselves, we tried to take as much as we could before the showed up." Optimus explained. Ratchet secured all the energon in a safe, energy dampening location so Decepticons couldn't lock onto their coordinates. A little while later Ratchet caught the attention on everyone. "...Wait a second, wait a second. It says right here there's still an energon signal... Coming from this base! But it can't be the vault, no energy signature can leak from there." Everyone glanced around and checked around to find any spare energon left behind. Ratchet however grabbed an energy reader and began scanning the room, coming closer and closer until he stopped in front of Ria.

"..."

Ratchet's gaze narrowed slightly hand dropping to his side. "Osiria Rose, do you have energon on your person." Ria debated whether she should lie or not, but sighed and opened her pockets, revealing dozens of energy clumps, nuggets and shards. "How did- you can't have those! Hand them over at once." Ratchet fumed, glaring at her. "I just thought they were pretty is all! I have a gem collection and thought these would look lovely amongst them." She grumbled. "Absolutely not! Even if I did allow you to bring those to your home, Decepticons could lock onto it's energy signature and destroy everything you cherish and care about!"

"Aw come on Ratchet-"

"No buts! You hand those clumps over to me  _now!_ "

"Ratchet, just let her have a nugget or two, shards of energon that small shouldn't attract the attention of Decepticons anyways, they want the big loads, not a couple little pieces." Arcee vouched, hands on her hips. The medic bot surveyed the room and scoffed, frowning as he gave back a few of the shards. "Do not come crying to me when vehitrons ruin your gem collection." A small smile perked at the corner of her lips.

* * *

"I'm telling you Optimus, she's lying!" Optimus laid a hand on the other's shoulder. It was obvious this really concerned him. "I understand old friend, but from the looks of it, it just seemed to be a misunderstanding. Or at most, coincidence. It's just too soon to tell. Besides, you have a nurse to help you in the med-bay now. One who understands human anatomy. Perhaps it is time for that overdue lesson on human medicine you wanted to know."

 

 


	4. The difference between medicine and poison is the dose

"No, that is the fibula Ratchet." Ria sighed, much to the doctor's frustration. If she knew teaching an Autobot human anatomy would be this hard, she wouldn't have agreed to teach him about human  _medicine_. "This is impossible!" Ratchet huffed. "Well, it usually helps to have a human anatomy in the first place." Ria joked, leaning against the gurney. "How about we take a break. How about you tell me something about Cybertronian anatomy. Like..." She scanned the med-bay for anything interesting, and spotted an untagged green vial. Hopping up, she walked over to it. "Such as... What's this?" She asked leaning closer. "Don't touch that! That is... That is synthetic energon.  _Untested_ synthetic energon. Who knows what that would do in contact with a Cybertronian, none the less a human." Ria raised an eyebrow and looked at the vial again, opting to leave it alone in pursue of something else.

However their 'private' lesson didn't last long as Ratchet was called for a ground bridge. What came through was a frantic Arcee, Bulkhead, Prime and damaged Bumblebee. Ratchet was quick to take initiative. "Put him on the table- what happened out there?!"

"Decepticon trap, we barely managed to get out of there with our afts intact." Arcee huffed as they laid a disoriented and beeping bee onto the table. "Now stand back and let me do my work." The room was silent, first time she's ever heard it be silent with everyone in it. Ria leaned against the railings as she watched Ratchet work. However noticing a sign of distress she was quick to jump into action instead of alerting ratchet. Grabbing something as she slide down to Bumblebee's lower abdomen, she heard a small gasp come from Ratchet.

"Ria I need tha-"

"Save it Ratchet." She hissed as she began working quickly and diligently. Everyone leaned closer to watch her as she did her own magic. Minutes ticket by before Ria stood and handed the tool back to Ratchet. "He had a leak, any longer and he would of bled out." Everyone seemed... More than impress with her handiwork, it was like she was a professional. And not just by human standards. Ratchet himself thought the same as well. Quietly taking the tool, he thanked Ria before finishing up on Bumblebee.

Afterwards, when a calmness came through the air, Ratchet turned to Ria. "...How did you know how to fix an energon leak?" Ria shrugged a bit, going back to laying on the gurney. "Similar enough to a pierced artery I guess, I suppose Cybertronian anatomy isn't all that different from human anatomy." Was all she gave him.

Later that day, it seemed Ria was the one who had to stay all alone and man the ground bridge. Which left her with a lot of free time.

* * *

Returning with minimal efforts, the team looked to see Ria sitting at the ground bridge controls. "Nice to see you again, nobody is hurt right?"

"We are  _fine_ Ria." Ratchet sighed, walking past her. The woman sighed as she shut the bridge off after everyone came through. The day went as per normal, the kids played, Bumblebee and Bulkhead were a nuisance, Arcee and Jack did something on their own and Ria watched the medic bot work, as per normal. Ratchet was never unnerved by this. In fact, he learned quickly she wasn't watching  _him_ work per say. But more what worked on the screen. Taking in information by the second. Medical files, decrypted files, history, things that seemed right up her alley. It came to the point where Ratchet began offering her a spot closer, and even began explaining what the words meant to her, and she just listened quietly with interest. The gang began to notice a jump in their relationship. What started as him accusing and questioning her of treason soon became to him enjoying her presence. He also seemed to pick up a thing or two as well about humans. How to handle sickness, scars, wounds. Combined with his knowledge of energon effects, he could revolutionize medicine as he saw it, along with Ria of course. The two became an unstoppable team, working together to bring the best out of each other. It was nice, for once, to see Ratchet not being a grump and instead enjoying himself. Perhaps this was Optimus's plan all along, not to plague the doctor but to cure him of his seemingly anti-social behavior.

"Ratchet?" Miko piped up one day, catching the doctor smiling fondly for no other reason than just because. "Huh? What? What is it? Are you hurt?" His smile quickly turned back to it's signature discontented frown as he focused on Miko. "No no I'm all good. But are you hurt? You've been... Smiling a lot lately." She drummed. Ratchet scoffed allowed in offense. "Why would that mean I'm  _hurt?_ " Miko shrugged and looked off to the side, "Well I mean- you're normally so grumpy so it's weird seeing you happy for once. What happened? Are you and Ria dating now or something?" Miko grinned, causing a panic to go over Ratchet. "What? Of course not! We are just friends. Human and bot relationships, psh, like that would ever work out."

Miko snickered quietly as she slid back on the couch, however now that Miko mentioned it, has he begun to grow... Fond of this new human? This won't do, this won't do at all. He had a job first and foremost, and silly relationships will not get in the way of that.

Ratchet began to grow distant from Ria once more, even after they've started making progress. The woman would scoff and try to draw the attention of the other but to no use. Sighing harshly, she crossed her arms as she sat next to the computer. Sensing the tension in the air, everyone quietly filtered out to give the two some space to talk. Once everyone out of the room, Ria looked up tot Ratchet. "Is there a reason you've been ignoring me? Have I done something to upset you medibot?" She huffed, furrowing her eyebrows. Ratchet took a moment, but his quiet typings came to a halt as a sigh left his mechanical lips. "No, Nurse Ria, you did not." She narrowed her eyes further, standing up. "Then what is it?"

The bot was silent for the longest of times. "I was afraid I was growing... Too attached to you, dependent even. I am a bot with a job to do and I can't rely on silly relationships when I need to work." He admitted, causing a glare to come to her hazel eyes. "Oh, really now? You know in human society it is considered 'rude' to lead a girl on and then drop the ball on her like that." She huffed, crossing her arms. "I'm walking home Ratchet." Ria hissed as she climbed down and made her way through the tunnels. He didn't even have time to protest before she was gone, a heavy sigh falling upon his hunched figure. "What have I done?"

* * *

Later that night during an inspection, Ratchet noticed that there was one  _less_ bottle of experimental synthetic energon than he last remembered.

 

 


	5. Gold Tears and a Cyan Pilot

"Prime it has come to my attention that I think Ria is doing more than just  _collecting_ things that are Cybertronian. Just the other night I found out that one of my synthetic energon canisters have been  _stolen_. Now I don't like to point fingers but the only person who have shown interest in it was Ria." Ratchet hissed, clearly agitated at this point. He's had enough to dancing around this, he needs to know who she is, or _what_ she is. There's been so many slip ups from what he's seen. The decoding, the patch job on Bumblebee, the interest in energon. There's no doubt that something fishy is going on here and they were going to get to the bottom of it. "Alright, Ratchet. We'll confront her about this when you pick her up from the hospital." Optimus sighed. He hated the thought that a human would want to work against them but perhaps he was right, perhaps Ria has been working against them this whole time and only Ratchet has been able to see her true colors.

Arriving at best as usual, Ria noticed she was the only human there. Stepping out of Ratchet's vehicle mode slowly, she glanced between all their concerned faces. "...What's going on guys? Is something wrong?" Everyone was silent as Ratchet transformered and joined them. "Ms. Osiria Von Rose... We'd like to ask you a few questions."

* * *

"Where do you go once you leave this hideout?" Optimus ask, a look of plea almost on his face. "...Home of course, where would I go?" Everyone looked at each other, murmuring and nodding. "And when you're not at home, where are you?"

"The hospital. Why?" Optimus sighed. "Earlier today Ratchet and I went to the supposed hospital you worked at and June told us you weren't there. Yet you were there for Ratchet to pick you up. And when we checked your so called... 'apartment', your landlord told Jack and Rafael that no one by the name of 'Osiria Von Rose' lives there."

Osiria blinked and looked down slightly.

"That- That must be a mistake. Perhaps you have the wrong building or-or June didn't see me that day! I _was_ at the hospital today." Ria glared. Even more suspicious.

"Yes... And where is that synthetic energon you took from me?" Ratchet asked. "What synthetic energon? You mean that green stuff you told me not to touch? I don't know if you notice but I'm not exactly the size to be carrying a heavy canister of liquid." Ria huffed. "She's right." Optimus commented, causing an exasperated sigh to come from the smaller bot. Ria seemed confident in her answers, becoming head on with Ratchet in his glaring contest. "Alright, that's enough." Optimus finally intervened, pulling him away from Ria. "We apologize Ms. Ria, we were under the impression that you were working with the Decepticons." Ria scoffed, snickering to herself. "Me? A Decepticon? Please! I wouldn't work with this bucketheads even if they had me by the limbs!" Her voice lowered, glancing away. "Especially not after what they did to Cybertron." Ratchet and Optimus stayed quiet, glancing at each other. They've told her about the Decepticons and Cybertron as they did with the other humans, but she talked as if... She knew of the damage done by the Decepticons... _Personally_.

Ratchet kept a sharp eye on Ria, always watching where she went and what she did. However she never did anything that seemed the slightest bit sketchy. Maybe it was all in his mind, maybe she was just a human woman who just sort of hung around and was incredibly smart. That would ease his flurried mind at least. Having to deal with the weight of being the team medic, he at least had some help in that regard with Ria by his side. He began to slowly open up once more, accepting her company and enjoying his time with her. Bots and people alike noticed an immense improvement in Ratchet's mood, however no amount of companionship can truly shake the grumpy bot forever. He has his moments where he bickered to the team to watch their health and not get hurt but he rarely ever gets upset with other bots now, humans even. Almost as if he's taken an air of compassion for once. But don't let it fool you, it's still the same Ratchet who'd yell at a bot for breaking his stuff. That hasn't changed. Ria sat quietly on Ratchet's shoulder as he worked. Admiring his work and pointing out any mistake he made, if he had any at all. That was Ria, the perfectionist, the woman who stood against danger with a pokerface, the woman who not even Primus could read. She was an enigma, a mystery wrapped in hard work and seriousness. A woman who doesn't let anything stand in her way and anyone talk down to her. A woman who... Who reminded Ratchet of someone.

Days ticked by as the Autobots discovered more Decepticon plans, data, coordinates. Bots coming in injured with Ria and Ratchet on the case. It was then he began to see something in her. Something... Old.

Ratchet waved off the feelings, focusing on his work. It was just an old love he had. An old love for a bot long gone.  

The two continued to accompany each other, even when the situation looked dangerous. Ria refused to leave Ratchet's side, if not for the fact she cared for him then the fact she's the only other thing capable to repairing both human and bot. If Ratchet goes down then they'd be at a disadvantage. However despite her diligence and hardiness she always seemed most fragile in the midst of gun fire.  _Extreme_ gun fire. Whenever confronted about it, she'd wave it off as a fear of weaponry. However Ratchet recalled her being mostly calm during the mine attack. Was she locked up in fear and he didn't know? He had to be more careful with his human now.

* * *

Later that week Ratchet called upon all the Autobots, even the humans who accompanied them.

"Alright, everyone. I have made a huge finding. I have locked onto the coordinates of a large ship. A  _neutral_ ship. Which means there should be valuable cargo on it but no affiliation with Autobots and Decepticons." The humans seemed quite intrigued. "Neutral? What do you mean? You can only be Autobot or Decepticon can't you?" Miko asked, inching forward. "Well... Not exactly. You see, there were some Cybertronians who just wanted nothing to do with the war. Who didn't want to fight or be involved. So they took ships, or, in some cases, scanned ships and jettisoned off of Cybertron to avoid the fighting." Ratchet paused. "A... Good friend of mine did, long ago, when the war first broke out." His voice got smaller and Ria looked away, rubbing her arm quietly. Raf noticed Ria's sudden timid nature and noted that for a later discussion. "Well... Since we have the coordinates, we can go check it out now right?" Miko asked, grinning from ear to ear. "Yes, but it's quite far away, I'll have to take a moment to re-calibrate the systems real quick to reach it."

The team nodded off and went off to do their separate things. However, Ria disappeared suddenly.

In the back of the missile silo, energon leaked through a cut pipe that lead to the space bridge, Ria walked back quietly, a dark expression on her face. Within the confines of the stone walls, she could finally show her true colors. With no one there to witness her crime, she sighed. "I'm sorry, Ratchet. But I can't let you locate that ship."

 

 


	6. A heartbeat means two different things depending on who you ask

"Frag! Why isn't it working?!" Ratchet hissed as he banged on the ground bridge controls. "I've checked the calibration, coordinates and systems about a dozen times already and yet the ground bridge is  _down_." He sighed allowed, rubbing his face. Everyone stood around quietly, however Jack's voice piped up. "Per...Haps its the scraplets again? They were the ones who caused the shortage last time right?" Ratchet tsked, shaking his head. "No no, we don't hold anything that could have scraplets on them... However..."

"Bumblebee, with me." Ratchet commanded as he began to sprint down the halls, Bumblebee quickly behind. Ratchet glared as he stared at the culprit. A punctured energon line. Upon closer inspection he found the cut to be too clean to just be a rupture. "...Foul play." He muttered as he patched up the line. Returning to the main room, he started the ground bridge and gestured. "Everyone. Ria." He narrowed his eye at his seemingly absent minded partner. "With me." He hissed as he picked her up and drove through the ground bridge.

* * *

When they arrived, the place was heavily overgrown. "Welcome to Germany, folks." Ratchet announced as he tried to tread carefully. "Huh. I ain't seeing anything Ratchet." Bulkhead comment, knocking over trees as he looked around. In the midst of this Ria grew more and more nervous, uncomfortable even. Ratchet noticed but chose not to say anything, in case it provoked her to run. When Everyone's energy meters began to beep wildly they paused, looking around and seeing absolutely nothing. "Huh. That's strange. We must of gotten turned around or the trees are interfering with our signal." Arcee commented. However with excited beeps and clicks coming from Bee, he knocked against what seemed to be an invisible, metal wall. "...A cloak." Optimus stated, going up to the ship and feeling around.

"Ah."

Tapping and a specific quadrant, the cloak disabled to show a crashed and desolate ship that's seen wear and age for at least three centuries. "Wow... You sure there'd be anything on here?" Bulkhead asked, glancing inside a gaping, torn entrance. "Well, the emergency cloaking device was active, which means it took precautions to hide something, or  _someone_ has been triggering it." There was an edge to his words that made Ria flinch slightly. Exploring the innards of the ship everyone noted how empty it was, as if it's been raided already or... If it had anything on it at all. "This seems like a dead end Ratchet, I don't think we're gonna find Energon on here-" Arcee froze.

"...Guys, I think you should come see this."

* * *

Everyone stood in quiet shock as they store at the bot in front of them. A medical bot, no doubt. With both her legs missing. However the wounds seemed to be cauterized, and with a quick scan she seemed to be fine over all. So why did it seem she was offline. Glancing around further, Ratchet paused next to the body. "...Wait a second." Picking up an empty cartridge he narrowed his eyes to see the remnants of a green liquid in it. As well as the residue of glowing blue crystal. "...My synthetic energon as well as natural energon. See! I told you Ria was stealing from m-" Ratchet looked over to see Ria again, standing immediately. "Ria?" Everyone glanced around and was called to the chest of the body, where the spark chamber was. "Ria! Explain yourself, _Now!_ " Ratchet hissed.

The woman sighed, crossing her arms and squaring up. "Well... I supposed I can't hide it any longer."

"Dear Ratchet, say the name Osiria Von Rose for me."

"...Osiria Von Rose."

"Now say the name of this bot."

"..."

Everyone stared at Ratchet, who's eyes fell as he struggled to find his words.

"...Overdose."

"Now say my name again."

"I don't understand what you're trying to-"

"Just say my name."

"...Osiria Von Rose-"

Ratchet paused, eyes darting to his human companion, her hazel eyes piercing him to his very spark. Osiria Von Rose. Ovrose. Over-

It was like the pieces fell into place. Why haven't he noticed sooner? He watched as the human companion he grew so fond of dissipated into thin air, leaving no trace of who she was or where she went. In that moment, the previous-thought-offlined bot's spark began to beat, as her eyes flickered brightly, moving her head slightly, she looked at all of them. "You act like you're surprised."

"...A Holomatter Avatar..." Ratchet muttered. "Ding ding ding, right on the nosecone Ratchet." Overdose sneered. "But why- why didn't you just tell us right off the bat?! I could of come and gotten you, we could of fixed your legs instead of you-" Overdose sneered, crossing her arms. "You said it yourself, neutrals wanted nothing to do with the war, or with Autobots or Decepticons. I never expected myself to get roped in that easy, but I supposed old habits die hard, huh?" Ratchet had nothing to say other than give the other a small smile.

"Is good to see you online again, old friend."

 

 


End file.
